Wednesday, July 2, 2014

In his first interview since being slapped with a life
ban for corruption, former New Zealand batsman Lou Vincent has offered a
compelling insight into how match-fixers work. He has revealed that he was
lured into fixing by his 'hero' during the ICL !!!!!!!! – the one that was
conducted in India, Indian Cricket League, if you can still remember. The 35-year-old top-order batsman was banned
from cricket for life on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to 18 breaches of the
England and Wales Cricket board’s anti-corruption regulations in three matches
in England. “I think I felt greedy for the first time in my life,” he told New
Zealand’s TV3 in an interview about his reasons for agreeing to get involved in
match-fixing.

It is raining in Mumbai –
Firstpost reports of more than 100 mm
rainfall within three hours in the morning led to water-logging in the suburban
Mumbai which put the city’s normal life out of gear on Wednesday. According to
the civic body's automatic weather stations, the highest rainfall was recorded
at 161 mm in Malad in Western suburbs, at 148 mm in Mankhurd in Eastern suburbs
and 82 mm in Wadala in city area. The areas that received over 100 mm rainfall
on Wednesday include Chembur, Bhandup, Kurla, Mulund Vikhroli in the eastern
part of the city and the areas such as Bandra, BKC, Andheri, Marol, Malad and
Borivali. In all, the civic body has
received a total of 33 complaints of trees falling. Due to a wall collapse
incident in Kurla three persons have received minor injuries and have been
admitted to hospital.

It was nothing close to this in Chennai – and we are
reading the worst case of building coming tumbling down and scores getting
trapped inside. On the third day after the collapse, National Disaster Response
Force sniffer dog Rustam stood by a small hole on a concrete slab, barking. And
his master knew what it meant: Another survivor below the rubble, almost 64
hours after the accident. The rescue team got cracking immediately, employing
life detectors, cutters and cameras to pinpoint where the life throbbed under
sheets of concrete. Eight hours later emerged a young man in a yellow T-shirt.
His first words to the rescuers: "Where are my slippers?" reports Times of India. NDRF commandant M K
Verma politely told him that he would get him a new pair of footwear.

At Wimbledon, Grigor Dimitrov broke British hearts by
ending Andy Murray's reign as Wimbledon champion with a sublime and serene 6-1
7-6(4) 6-2 victory in the quarter-finals on Wednesday. The third seed had
confidently marched into the last eight without dropping a set, but his meek
abdication left the Centre Court crowd, which included Prince William and his
wife the Duchess of Cambridge, stunned into silence. Defending Wimbledon
champions Su-Wei Hsieh and Peng Shuai suffered a shock defeat to Timea Babos
and Kristina Mladenovic 6-4, 6-7(5), 2-6 as the quest for their third Grand
Slam title was halted on No.3 Court. The reigning Roland Garros winners, who
have appeared at the quarter-final stage at every Grand Slam, admitted there
was additional pressure playing as No.1 seeds at the All England Club.

And in case you are following FIFA – the QF line-up is
drawn… on 4th July @ 21.30 IST – France will play Germany; on 5th @ 1.30 Brazil
plays Colombia; @ 21.30 IST Argentina Vs Belgium and on 6th @ 01.30 Nederlands
Play Costa Rica. Would the hosts who just
about managed to knock out Chile – survive to next round and who is going to
the winner… you may be tempted to turn to psychic animals …